SIUE’s Jackson Edits Book to Help Transgender College Students with Housing

July 16, 2018, 12:00 PM

For trans college students, Rex Lee Jackson, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville associate director of Residence Life, wants to start with the basics – human dignity and a safe place to call home.

“How can a student be academically successful when he/she/hir does not have a home, does not have some place safe to go, or has feelings of being marginalized?” asked Jackson, who served on the American College Personnel Association’s (ACPA) Commission for Housing and Residential Life. “We know when students live on campus, they tend to be more academically successful and are better connected.”

“We also know that traditional housing setups create barriers for trans students,” Jackson continued. “However, gender inclusive housing creates spaces where more and more students can access a safe, supportive living environment. Currently nationwide, there are not a lot of options in campus housing for trans students.”

It was this reason that compelled Jackson and Stephanie H. Chang, adjunct faculty member in New England College’s master of science higher education and administration program, director of student diversity and inclusion at the University of Delaware, and member of ACPA’s Coalition of Sexuality and Gender Identities, to begin writing a paper on gender inclusive housing.

Jackson, Chang and others worked on the paper for a couple years before transitions separated the group. Then Jackson and Chang contacted the other two editors, Jason C. Garvey, assistant professor of higher education and student affairs in the Department of Leadership and Developmental Sciences at the University of Vermont; and Z Nicolazzo, assistant professor in the Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education, and faculty associate in the Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Northern Illinois University.

The editors looked at data from more than 150 institutions, including public, private and small, medium and large-sized, that offered gender inclusive housing and accommodations for trans students.

“We talked to those who felt their journey was successful, who thought their efforts had been challenging and to some who said it took a long time,” Jackson said. “Then we asked institutions if they were interested in doing chapters for the book. We ended up with the following 11 schools that are highlighted in the book.”

Roosevelt University in Chicago

George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Oberlin College in Ohio

University of California, Riverside

Dickinson College in Pennsylvania

University of Wisconsin, Madison

University of Maryland, College Park

American University in Washington, D.C.

Ithaca College in New York

University of Arizona, Tucson

University of Oregon, Eugene

While SIUE was not in the book, Jackson noted that University Housing has had a trans housing

option since 2009, and students have been allowed to self-identify as trans since 2011.

“If a student self identifies as trans, the student gets a personal phone call from the housing staff asking how we can help,” said Jackson. “We work with the student to build an assignment that works for them. Unfortunately, that is not the case everywhere.”

“In the book, we were transparent about where we are nationwide in terms of housing for trans gender students,” explained Jackson. “We also detailed how some of these schools navigated the politics of it all, what stakeholders need to be involved and how to pull everything together.”

Some of schools’ successful efforts were because students help advocate for change, according to Jackson.

“We can’t make these important changes in isolation of our students and their voices,” said Jackson. “We have to partner with students in advocating for change.”

“The benefit is that trans students are treated like humans,” he said. “Their identities are recognized. They are seen as having authentic identities, and not people with mental health issues or all of the other stereotypes that go with it.

“Hopefully, more and more people will see that trans individuals are people, too,” Jackson concluded. “You may not understand the complexities of gender identity, but hopefully, you can at least get to the point where you see that these individuals are just like us. They are human. ”

Photo: Rex Lee Jackson, SIUE associate director of Residence Life and one of four editors of the book,Trans* Policies & Experiences in Housing & Residence Life.